It is known that during so-called blind stitching, when not all stitches of the connecting row are picked up, the precisely aligned sliding of the stocking onto the feeder used to the fact that the difference between the fine row of stitches and the normal thickness of the stocking provides an adjusting stop against the underside of the guide ribs of the feeder.
If in coarser stockings this difference is considerable, in the case of fine stockings it can hardly be noticed ( e.g. stockings made with a diameter of 33/4 and 240 needles, or 31/2 and 200 needles), so that straightness of the seam is uncertain and incidental.
It has therefore been proposed that the knit of the toe be ended with a row of wide stitches, reinforced by the addition of a second yarn, in order to raise the adjusting stop against the lower guide plane of the feeder. In this way the straightness of the seam is improved, but the result is still not adequate, particularly at the corners, because at the end of the decreasing toe portion the fine-stitch rows of elastic yarn are higher with respect to the middle part of the toe.
As a result, the quality of the seam varies greatly depending on the goods; it is best in stockings made of wool and acrylic, less good in stockings made of cotton. Besides the seam is larger, since it was made not only on rows of elastic yarn but also on a wide row reinforced with two yarns.
The above-described known system uses a feeder of special construction as equipment for the looping machine, wherein the toe portions of stocking prepared as above are closed. The construction is made possible by the development of a stocking guide feeder with chains, the thickness of the bars being increased to 8 mm and even 9 mm from the initial 4 mm.
A process for the preparation of stockings produced in circular knitting machines for the closing of the toe portion in looping machines with chain feeders can comprise the steps:
after knitting of a stocking is concluded, forming a row of wide stitches and subsequent rows of finer stitches of elastic yarn at a toe portion of the knitted stocking body; PA1 forming subsequent rows of a yarn thicker than the one used for the stocking body in order to form a reinforced edge which rests from above against the upper sides with two bars of the feeder which are mirror images of one another and symmetrical with respect to a longitudinal median plane of the feeder forming a slot into which the flattened row of the stocking is inserted; and PA1 providing each bar with a longitudinal rib which is at a distance from the corresponding rib of the other bar and has an oblique segment starting at a distance from the inlet of the feeder and diverging downwardly with respect to the upper side of the respective bar so that a segment is formed which together with the opposite rib constitutes a slanted or inclined plane interrupted via a longitudinal slot, the oblique segment of each rib passing into a segment running parallel with the upper sides of the bars. PA1 two bars of the feeder which are mirror images of one another and symmetrical with respect to a longitudinal median plane of the feeder forming a slot into which the flattened row of the stocking is inserted; and PA1 providing each bar with a longitudinal rib which is at a distance from the corresponding rib of the other bar and has an oblique segment starting at a distance from the inlet of the feeder and diverging downwardly with respect to the upper side of the respective bar so that a segment is formed which together with the opposite rib constitutes a slanted or inclined plane interrupted via a longitudinal slot, the oblique segment of each rib passing into a segment running parallel with the upper sides of the bars. PA1 In this system, according to the invention, the thickness of the ribs is smaller than the height of the wide stitches which are formed at the end of the stocking toe portion.